The Approach
Ecosystem Regeneration Associates (ERA) was awarded $200,000 to build a smallholder agroforestry pilot project in the Cerrado biome. ERA believes the answer is carbon-financed agroforestry systems. Agroforestry systems integrate diverse species to produce fruits, nuts, superfoods and spices and in the long run yield more food and higher financial returns per hectare than do monocropping systems. They also offer environmental benefits such as increasing soil carbon and moisture and improving microclimates, water quality and pollination.
ERA’s agroforestry systems produce baru nuts, banana, cassava, moringa and turmeric and sequester an estimated 200-300 tonnes of carbon dioxide per hectare over 30 years. With its Pollen Program, it aims to help farmers improve their bottom lines and long-term resilience to climate risk by offering financing, education and technical assistance in the implementation of agroforestry systems on smallholder plots.
For farmers who choose to participate in a carbon credit project, ERA oversees the project development and credit registration and transactions. Using technology to aggregate a large number of projects will help the company achieve a scale that’s economically viable and attractive to carbon credit buyers.
The Challenge
As a major domestic and international supplier of commodities such as soy, beef and sugarcane, Brazil has expanded its agricultural sector at significant environmental cost. Long a way to increase the land area available for food production, deforestation in particular has led to higher greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity. Cerrado, Brazil’s second-largest biome, has already lost 50% of its native vegetation to commercial agriculture. With proper land management, the country’s farmers and ranchers could triple food production using existing farmland.
Protecting and restoring natural landscapes such as forests is one of the most efficient ways to fight such environmental degradation and to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to well below 2°C relative to pre-industrial levels. Carbon markets support the transition to a low-carbon economy, by, among other things, providing incentives for landholders to conserve forests and grasslands and to regenerate degraded lands.
Restoring degraded land requires a significant upfront investment in seedlings, inputs, equipment and technical assistance. Smallholder farmers, who produce 70% of the world’s food, lack access to the capital for such investments, which leaves them in poverty and natural landscapes in jeopardy. How can farmers be incentivised to adopt agricultural practices that support healthy soils, ecosystems and communities?
Impact achieved so far
With the support of the Swiss Re Foundation, ERA developed the Pollen Program’s financial model, carbon model, farmer engagement strategy and farmer eligibility criteria in 2020.
In 2021 ERA focused on educating and building the capacity of future farmers through these measures taken in partnership with Family Agriculture School (EFA - Escola Familia Agricola):
Planting a 1-hectare (10,000 m2) agroforestry learning hub where over 500 young people will be educated over two years
Training more than 60 young people in agroforestry management techniques
Providing technical assistance and financing to eight EFA students to implement their own mini-agroforestry system on their family property, resulting in the planting of 3 740 m2, or roughly 500 m2 per student, of land
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